Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to facial protection and thermoregulation for patients undergoing surgery.
Description of the Related Art
There is a growing interest in the safety of patients undergoing surgery, to avoid errors, injuries, and complications. Because many adverse events are preventable, the Joint Commission of Hospitals, the major hospital certifying agency for Medicare and CMS, and the World Health Organization, have devoted considerable resources to educating and monitoring health care professionals nationally and internationally in matters of patient safety and the prevention of surgery errors, injuries, and complications.
There are generally accepted and standardized approaches to patient positioning, and the use of padding, restraints, straps, bolsters, and various support mechanisms to prevent injuries. Methods of preventing injuries to the face during surgery vary depending on patient positioning. For example, there is considerable discussion of facial protection in anesthesia literature, which discusses patients in the face down or prone position when undergoing spinal surgery or other procedures requiring that position. The emphasis here is on eye, nose, and lip protection and airway access, with eye and airway having the highest priority and being at the greatest risk. There are a few products available to help protect against injuries in this position, such as contoured foam rubber pads, modified head gear pads, adhesive eye goggles, and table mirrors which allow an anesthesiologist to see a patient's face in the prone position. Some of these methods also apply to patients placed in the decubitus position (patient lying on right or left side).
The majority of operations, however, are performed with the patient in the supine or face up position. In this position the face is exposed and unprotected, rendering it vulnerable to falling or dropped objects, instruments inadvertently striking the face, eyes or teeth, unanticipated drips of chemicals, body fluids, prep-solutions, etc. Eye and tooth injuries are the most common facial injuries in the operating room, occurring in about 1:1000 cases. Considering that about 24-44 million operations are performed annually in the USA, there are many injuries occurring which probably go unreported.
Despite these concerns, facial protection of a patient in the supine position is not standardized; it is typically left up to the anesthesiologist to best determine how to protect the face from mechanical or fluid-related injury. Conventional protection efforts may involve, for example, periodic visual inspection so as to keep the surgical drapes, as well as the surgeon's hands, arms, instruments and instrument trays away from the patient's face. Folded sheets, towels, or unsecured foam rubber pads may also be placed over the face. However, using these approaches, an injury might occur while the anesthesiologist is otherwise occupied and not constantly watching the patient's face. In addition, access to the face required by the anesthesiologist may be compromised by the various non-transparent items placed on the face; those items might also provide inadequate facial protection. There are no known devices specifically designed for facial protection under general anesthesia when the patient is in a supine position.
Another problem that can arise during a surgical procedure is inadvertent intraoperative hypothermia, due to exposure of the head and face with concomitant heat loss. This is known to be dangerous for the patient and can lead to surgical complications. It is known that the head may lose as much as 30% of body heat under stress and anesthesia. Forced air heating units are commonly used for the extremities and torso, but none are independently available and dedicated to the head & neck area.